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MORGAN
family, of
Llantarnam
,
Monmouthshire
.

The importance of this branch of the
Morgans
of
Pen-coyd
, claiming descent from
Cadifor Fawr
, begins when
WILLIAMMORGAN
(d.
1582
), of the
Grange of Cefn Vynoch
, acquired, in
1561
, the dissolved
abbey of Llantarnam
, with its appurtenant manors of
Wentwood
and
Bryngwyn
, from
William
,
earl of Pembroke
(d.
1570
)
, to whom it had been granted by
Elizabeth
in
1559
. A new mansion was built from the stones of the abbey, but it appears to have been maintained by
Morgan
as a place of pilgrimage, and his house was used for the celebration of mass, despite which he became
sheriff of his county
in
1568
and represented it not only in
Mary
's Parliaments of
1555
and
1557
but also in
Elizabeth
's of
1559
and
1571
.

His son,
EDWARD
MORGAN
(d.
1633
), succeeded him in the House in
1584
and
1586
, and as
sheriff
in
1582
; his daughter
Florentia
m.
SirWilliamHerbert
of
S. Julians
.

The marriage of his heir,
THOMAS
MORGAN
, to
Frances
, daughter of
EdwardSomerset
,
4th earl of Worcester
, drew the family further into the camp of militant
Roman Catholicism
; for although she appears to have been brought up a
Protestant
, she had been ‘reconciled’ to
Rome
by
Fr.RobertJones
, and she was a generous supporter of the
Welsh Jesuit mission
, while
Worcester
's influence on the
Privy Council
enabled her father, by moving about more freely than the law allowed to recusants, to serve as a link with scattered
Catholic
bodies like those in
Flintshire
. He received a pardon for declining the new oath of allegiance in
1612
, on paying a composition fee of £100.

Thomas
's son,
SirEDWARDMORGAN
, who had been educated at
Jesus College
,
Oxford
(matriculated
May 1616
,
B.A.July 1619
), was instrumental in fixing the
Welsh Jesuit headquarters
at
Cwm
,
Herefordshire
(
1635
). In the second
Bishops’ War
(
1640
) he was given a
military commission
and allowed to raise contributions from his co-religionists — activities that provoked heated debate in the
Long Parliament
, to which
Charles
I
retorted by making him a
baronet
(
12 May 1642
), and renewing his commission in the
Civil War
, where he was captured at
Hereford
(
18 Dec. 1645
). The
Rump
disallowed
the baronetcy (
17 Feb. 1652
), and as a
Royalist
in arms his estate (worth £911 a year) was sequestrated and not finally discharged (
9 Nov. 1654
) till after his death (
24 June 1653
). His sister
Winifred
m.
PercyEnderbie
, author of
Cambria Triumphans
.

His heir,
Sir
EDWARD
MORGAN
,
2nd bart.
, became a
Protestant
, and so made possible a resumption of the parliamentary activities of the family, the
3rd bart.
, another
SirEDWARDMORGAN
(d.
1681
), representing the county in
1680-1
.

On his death without male heirs the estate passed out of the family, and the baronetcy to a younger son of the
1st bart.
,
Sir
JAMES
MORGAN
, who retained the ancestral faith despite a
Protestant
wife, and remained a
non-juror
after the Revolution of
1688
. On his death (
before 1727
) the title lapsed.